Insights

Labor Rule to Increase Overtime, Resulting in Burden on Home Health Agencies

Posted on Thursday, May 19, 2016 5:38 PM

Home health agencies will feel the pressure once the Department of Labor’s (DOL) final rule has released, outlining the overtime requirements for salaried employees. For salaried workers, the rule increases minimum salary requirements for overtime exemptions. The final rule will go into effect December 1, 2016.

The new rule will affect home health care agencies with salaried employees, requiring that they pay overtime wages for labor beyond 40 hours. Therefore, home health employers will most likely cut hours for their employees to make up for the overtime costs.

Several small business have acted out against the department’s decision. “The sheer ignorance displayed by the Department of Labor in failing to heed the concerns of the nation’s small business community will result in severe repercussions that will harm workers, small businesses, housing affordability, job growth and the economy,” the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) said in a statement. “By radically doubling the current overtime salary limit of $23,600 to $47,476, this blatant regulatory overreach will essentially hurt many of the workers the rule was meant to help.”

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